CagePrisoners urges the Saudi Government to call for al-Fawwaz repatriation

CagePrisoners has written to the Saudi Arabian Government calling on it to act swiftly to intercede in the case of Khalid al-Fawwaz who has been held without charge fighting extradition to the US from inside a prison cell for the past fourteen years, making him the longest ever detained without charge individual in British history.

We ask all our supporters to follow suit and urge the Saudi authorities to act now in Khalid’s case, before his ordeal restarts once more, instead of ending.

CagePrisoners, a British Human Rights NGO, is writing to you in concern for Khalid al-Fawwaz, a Saudi citizen who has been detained in British prisons without trial since 1998. He is the longest serving prisoner held without charge in the history of this country.

For the past fourteen years al-Fawwaz has been fighting extradition to the US where he is wanted in connection with the East Africa US embassy bombings of 1998. However, the case presented against him there is very weak. The suggestion that links al-Fawwaz to any of these accusations is based on two unsubstantiated points:

1. The anonymous evidence of a ‘supergrass’ who links him with the US embassy bombings of 1998, although al-Fawwaz had lived in London for four years by then.

2. The alleged numerous communications between him and individuals in Afghanistan, which according to his lawyer, were not only known but also approved by British Intelligence.

Khalid al-Fawwaz makes no secret about his association with the mujahideen, including some of whom later joined Al Qaeda, during the Afghan jihad, a struggle which was rightly legislated and supported by Saudi scholars and authorities. However, al-Fawwaz also publicly disassociated himself from Al Qaeda in 1996, two years before the East African bombings, when the organisation published its fatwa entitled "Declaration of War against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places".

We believe that it is not fair for him to face a life sentence for his association with a group which, at that time, was even supported by the US, his present accusers.

It is hard to envisage, based on the treatment of numerous Arab Muslim prisoners, both within the prison system as well as the judicial one, in the current anti-Islamic climate that exists in the US - that al-Fawwaz would receive just treatment and fair trial.

Based on testimony from former prisoners and human rights groups, we also believe al-Fawwaz would be subjected to abusive and tortuous conditions in solitary confinement in the ADX Florence ‘Supermax ‘prison.

This is also the opinion of Juan Mendez, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture who recently commented,

“I think there is very good arguments that solitary confinement and Special Administrative Measures would constitute torture and prevent the UK from extraditing these men.”

Further, we believe that even if al-Fawwaz had been convicted in the UK of the offences which the US accuses him, he would have more than served his time by now. His years spent in prison are tantamount the equivalent of a twenty-eight year sentence. He has more than served his time.

Sadly, although the British Government has never charged al-Fawwaz with any wrongdoing, the prospect of being reunited with his family is now very thin.

Thus, we call upon the Saudi authorities to come to the aid of Khalid al-Fawwaz by requesting that he is repatriated to his homeland. Khalid is not a threat to the safety of any country and may in fact be an asset, after all his time in prison and his reputation for caring and helping others. However, we are also aware of the de-radicalisation programme successfully operating in the Kingdom which you may also consider as an option in seeking his return.

1 Comment

I want warn you to do not mail him.He read here and that is enough if he has any brain head. Each mail is kept in archive for years and you live in UK.
There is also problem they add things to your mail. Time is hard, people do odd things for money.
Your mails are suitable for creating database of terrorist supporters.You must see things from other people angle.

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